Darker Future
by DarnReality
Summary: Peace was supposed to return...that's what Trunks thought after he killed the androids and gotten rid of Cell; however, after an accident with the time capsule, he goes further into his timeline to find that in some ways...the world got worse.
1. Prologue: A Falling Star?

_Extensive_ Darker Future Summary:

After Trunks had effectively destroyed the androids and Cell in his time, peace was supposed to return; however, political mistrust and tensions slowly begin to increase as a result of the long terror of the androids, threatening the world constitutional monarch and sectors of Earth. In an accident with the time machine which was intended to go back in time to check on the status of the saved alternate timeline, the half-saiyan somehow ends up going further in his timeline. In that period, he sees everything that was once unified, completely separated with the appearance of contractors, multiple gates, and distrust everywhere...now the question is...how did everything end up like this? (A Darker Than Black and Dragon Ball Z Crossover; Future Trunks x Misaki Kirihara)

Rated M for unnecessary, unpredictable, sometimes turning-your-guts-into-liquid kinda gore...and perhaps a little of something else..hmm...maybe?

A\N...

I really..._really_...needed to start on some of my other ideas. As much as I love working on my first fanfic, Rosario Plus Gohan; I can no longer delay the need to get at least another of my ideas in another exciting, hopefully entertaining fanfic that involves our favorite post-apocalyptic hero.

I honestly saw a good potential for a crossover such as this. People might say otherwise because of a power difference between saiyans and contractors, blah...blah..blah; however, this fanfic is not so much focused on the battles but rather on Trunks' experience to prevent what he sees as a unfortunate future...if it is even possible to prevent, that is...plus, I do believe that certain contractors can become a real pain in the ass for the half-saiyan. We'll just have see how everything turns out.

Another important thing to note is that this isn't another dimensional switch crossover or anything like that. It's still set in the Dragon Ball world except in a even more advanced time. So of course, things are going to be a little different in terms of the technology, military power, and...obviously, the covering of real stars with contractors' stars.

Overall, for the most part, it'll be somewhat close to the Darker than Black canon except for major tweaks and exceptions. It should be interesting especially considering this is AU for Darker than Black.

One last thing to mention is to not expect consistent updates (New chapters are on a free-time basis, so it might be a short time or a long time to wait until the next chapter).

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball Z or Darker Than Black. All are written respectively by Akira Toriyama and Tensai Okamura. All characters portrayed are of their respective anime and manga.

* * *

'_**bzzt**__...With the death of King Fury which has been speculated to be caused by the androids early on, high officials of each 43 sectors of Earth meet to discuss the next royal king or queen of Earth; however, some members propose to throw out the constitutional monarch in place of separate nations in order to maintain better protection of its citizens especially with a population that has significantly decreased. Other members are opposed to the idea saying it could bring about a higher chance of corruption...investigators are also still questioning about the destruction of the androids. Many are eager to find the one who was responsible for ending the terror while others are more worried about future Red Ribbon...bzzt!_'

The blue short-haired woman with increasing stress visible in her eyes, Bulma, sighed as she turned the TV off by a click of her remote by the side of the stove, she then resumed cooking a pot of curry with a wooden spoon. It was kinda sad, 3 ½ years and people still couldn't move on without talking about the androids. She couldn't blame her friends and billions of others...when you had to live a life of fear for the longest of time, it couldn't have been easy to stop and settle down.

Speaking of which, she just wanted to slap the hell out of these politicians! Instead of bickering, they should keep focusing on the recovery of cities and provide support to citizens that need it! While some of the major cities such as West City, which she was located in, was recovering fast...other small cities and villages still needed big help and support.

She did all she could to help within the last three years such as providing families who lost their homes with mobile capsule homes, food capsules, and anything that could be transported easily. Her son, Trunks, helped immensely by helping transport and finding those in need. It was still particularly stressful though having to produce capsules with the limited staff she had on hand...they too had their own problems which did not make things any better, so of course, production was slow and it didn't come cheaply either.

Burma lifted her wooden spoon and took a sip to check the taste. She frowned a bit and then continued to stir with one arm while picking up salt in another hand. She added a little salt but before she attempted to taste it, the front door unlocked with a fast creak and inside came the twenty-five lavender-haired warrior with a small smile to his face. His hair grew just above his eyes where it had been neatly cut. He wore his usual black torso shirt with a small overhead purple Capsule Corporation jacket. Appearance wise, he didn't look that much different from the time he first left for the alternate timeline, other than a toner body.

"Trunks! Well that was quicker than usual! Were you able to help some people in the East?" Bulma asked, glad that her son was going to be available for dinner on time.

Trunks looked at his mother with a small smile of success. "Yeah...I was a bit surprised, but they're actually doing a lot better than other areas. Most of them were just villages which didn't need much except for some food capsules and a few extra clothing..."

Bulma smiled, happy to see that there was improvement in some areas at least. "Glad to hear that! Hopefully, everything and this city will be as bustling as before!"

Trunks nodded as he plopped to the nearby couches in the living room. He let out a large sigh of relief as his body loosened up and his head rested back. There was a long silence with only the sounds of curry boiling and the aroma filling the entire house. The half-saiyan didn't bother turning on the TV as he knew their was only one channel that was still alive and ongoing. All that had been going on was updates from a disputing government, questions about the androids, and evaluations in the progress of cities.

The half-saiyan closed his eyes and sighed. Was it going to return as it was before? More than half the world population was dead...no dragon balls...political tensions are rising...and...

_...he was the last z-fighter on the planet..._

He furrowed his eyebrows. No! Now was not the time for such thoughts! He could only move forward, continue to grow stronger, and help protect what was left of humanity and the planet. Dwelling on his mistakes and the losses would only make him depressed and undependable. It would be a shame to his father, he knew for certain, as well as everyone important to him...

_His master...Gohan..._

Trunks eyes opened filled with agitation of himself. He stood up from the couch and sighed again, most irritably. He needed to get out of the house and at least take a walk or fly around a bit to clear his mind. He felt a bit guilty for leaving his mother just after he came back but the last thing he wanted was to let his mother get worried during dinner. Though she showed little signs of worry over her son, inside Trunks knew that his mother did get worried..._a lot_. He could easily sense it.

With that, he walked back to the front door, but was stopped as his mother sensed his son leaving so soon. She didn't even need to study her son to know that there was something troubling him.

"Ah! Where are you going? Don't tell me you're leaving again?" Bulma asked she quickly turned her head back to see her son reaching out to the door.

Trunks gave an apologetic smile to his mother as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry mom, I won't be back long...I just have to get out a little, that's all..."

Bulma sighed as she closed her eyes and waved. "Alright, but don't blame me if your curry gets cold!"

The half-saiyan simply nodded as he opened the door and closed, leaving the mother by herself and the curry. She sighed as she lifted a spoon filled with curry again.

"I swear...he's still uptight no matter how much I see him...he seriously needs to get a girlfriend..." she muttered with slight amusement in the thought. She advanced to taste the curry and it didn't help her mood at all to find that it still was lacking taste, even with some salty help.

* * *

The half-saiyan flew to the south side of West City where it had transformed into an eerie ghost town with broken and abandoned hover cars to the side of cracking roads, damaged infrastructure, and even a noticeable large crater which had probably occurred some time when he struggled against the androids. The entire place looked even spookier during the nighttime.

Why was he here? Well it was the only area that he could easily fly to without strange and fearful looks from the remaining civilians of the city. He avoided flying when ever he could because many people had easily mistaken him as an android since they too could fly despite the knowledge of them being destroyed. The fear of the androids stuck with many people despite it being three years since he had destroyed them. It was a bit painful to see the tensions in some of the people he met but hopefully with time, everyone would forget about them as if they were a bad nightmare.

_Hopefully..._

Trunks stopped as he levitated above an old, abandoned TV station and slowly floated down to the rooftop. He inhaled deeply for a couple of seconds before exhaling into what seemed to be a cold night. Even though he was in was pitch black area because of the damaged access to power, the stars and a full moon were bright enough to illuminate the area a little. It made the broken scene a little serene but not enough to cover up the damage that the androids had done.

Now focusing on the present and future, how could he ensure that the world could heal for long periods of time? Peace wasn't going to last...he had to accept that and he also had to accept that even he couldn't continue protect this world forever...

'_You need to get a girlfriend, Trunks! Seriously, how long are you going to wait?'_

His mother's words somehow managed to randomly get to his ears. Obviously at a time when people are still recovering and the world population is not in its former prime, getting a girlfriend or even meeting new people was way at the bottom of his priorities. He had repeatedly explained that to his mother who always brought it up.

He admitted that he was feeling a bit lonely, but he couldn't let his feelings get away in this at all. He had to stay strong for the sake of everyone. Besides, he felt an obligation to look out for his mother despite whatever she had said of worrying about himself. She was the only family he had, after all.

He sighed once more and then glanced at the sky, seeing each and every star that appeared next to each other.

"Well...at least the stars are unified..." he commented with a slight chuckle.

Feeling a little better now, he decided to head back to the more lively part of the city whose lights could be seen, separating the recovered areas from the damaged areas.

Before he attempted to fly away, a sudden fragile and small hand touched the back of his shoulder...at least, that's what he thought he felt.

He quickly turned and was about to back away until he saw nothing behind him. He furrowed his lavender eyebrows and took a good look around with his pupils while sensing the area. He didn't sense a single living soul anywhere which made him slightly confused.

Trunks closed his eyes and sweat-dropped. Maybe he was a little too uptight...

* * *

_One month later..._

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Trunks? I know this won't affect our timeline, but you can't be going in other timelines as you please either," Bulma explained as she and her son stood with a large yellow time capsule machine that stood over them.

Trunks nodded, all prepared with a few handy tools and his repaired sword that was in its sheath behind his back. He looked at his mother confidently.

"It won't be long, I promise. I want to see how the other timeline is doing. Since it's been a few years, I didn't think it would hurt..."

Bulma closed her eyes and sighed as she dropped a little and put a hand to her waist. "I guess it wouldn't hurt...just as long as you don't get involved anymore. We need to focus on our timeline...okay?"

Trunks smiled a little and nodded with confirmation. "I got it..."

The window dome of the yellow time capsule opened allowing the half-saiyan to jump in and set the coordinates and proper numbers that he had gotten all too used to by now into the control board. Seeing how it has been three and a half years, he made sure that he was set for the correct time since he had first appeared there. Obviously, his own self at that timeline would have been probably four years old; therefore, he wasn't going to take the chance to meet himself...that would be just...weird...

"Remember! The time capsule only has enough power to make two trips in time, so be careful not to screw up your coordinates or else you're going to have to wait another month once you get back. This thing takes a chunk load of power when recharging!" Bulma warned, unwilling to let this machine kill her financially in a time when rebuilding of her company was crucial.

Trunks once again nodded to his worrying mother about the dangers. "Don't worry mom, I've already done this twice before..." he reassured.

Bulma sighed as she put her hands to her forehead and dragged it through her hair. "Maybe it's just me...everything is just sucking the life out of me..."

Trunks chuckled. "You'll be fine, mom," he assured. He knew his mother was a tough bird when she wanted to be, though, she could also be pretty relaxed. It was as balanced as Gohan's mother, ChiChi, could never be.

"Alright, I better get going now..." he stated as the overhead glass dome began closing and sealing tight. He pulled up two fingers to his mother as he gestured his patented goodbye and good luck sign.

Bulma grinned and waved away as the high power engines of the yellow machine began to hum with lights flickered all over the machines like LED except brighter.

The half-saiyan double checked the set timeline he wanted to go to and then hit the initiation button. The machine hummed louder, now pulsating the ground and leaving gusts of wind blowing in all directions around it. Bulma continued to wave at his son as the time machine began to levitate.

Trunks smiled to his mother and glanced down at his panel to make sure everything was fine, until he noticed something wrong...

_Very wrong..._

The coordinates were completely different than what he thought he had inputted. He swore he had entered the right timeline and even double-checked! Yet...it somehow was pointing further into the future..._MUCH _further...Was it his eyes that were deceiving him or was it a minor glitch in his display that pointing to Age 1032?

He tapped the digital output to make sure he wasn't seeing things...

'_Engine fully ready...Traveling to Age 1032 in 3...'_

Trunks eyes widened in horror as the machine's lovely female voice announced the departure. Quickly he attempted to override the departure by entering a couple hundred keys as fast as he could muster his saiyan speed...but the machine's message was clear that it was too late to override anything...

'_Override is not possible...departing in 2...'_

_No, no, no, NO!_ Trunks screamed in his head as he desperately wanted to find anything that could force the machine into submission.

The half-saiyan glanced at his mother who had stopped waving and was looking perplexed at her son's rather swift and freaked-out movements. She wasn't sure what was the problem and was clearly unaware of the machine's messages that could only be heard in the glass dome. She had checked everything the week before to make sure it was ready for departure. She even saw Trunks punch in the coordinates properly.

'_Well, I'm glad I'm not the only stressed out though...he probably forgot something. Oh well, it's too late for that but I'm sure he'll be fine...' _Bulma thought to herself.

The half-saiyan clearly saw that his mother didn't see anything wrong...and so, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It looked like it was futile. He could break out of the machine before it would depart but then it would be lost...and his mother would certainly kill him. There was no choice but to wait until the time travel and then take the next trip back to this time. His mother would probably still kill him once she finds out he came back wasting the opportunity, but at least the time machine would be back.

'_Departing in 1...'_

"Well, this is just freakin' perf-"

Trunks' rather frustrated sentence ended abruptly as the machine finally dematerialized quickly into space with a loud buzz_, _leaving a ingenious scientist left with only the wind and some leafs blowing. It was time for worrying to kick in as she wondered why her son had freaked out so suddenly. Though she had to admit, it looked kinda silly being in a glass dome where she couldn't hear him. On a serious note, maybe something did go wrong...

…

_Nah..._she made sure _everything_ was running fine...that is...unless someone tampered with it...

_...Nah..._

* * *

_244 years later..._

Two women most likely in their late twenties or early thirties looked to the sky of stars with seemingly uninterested eyes. Both of them sat on a lone bench that faced a small lake as well as a large number of trees which surrounded a lot of the green area. It was absolutely serene in the nighttime to say the least. The stars reflected on the lake's water making it look like it was glowing. The trees were bristling as a light wind bended them to the east. The grass below their feet twinkled with sprinkles of water that remained on them.

"...you know, you can't deny that this isn't beautiful. I should be glad that our observatory is located so close to such a natural area..." the woman to the right of the bench spoke. She had medium length, brown wavy hair that was loose in some areas around her face but mostly tied to the back of her head. Along with brown eyes, her face showed that of an someone fighting to keep her complexion as youthful as possible, which somehow included wearing bright-pink lipstick. She wore a loose lab-coat which to say the least didn't hide the revealing clothes that laid underneath. It was obvious she was some sort of scientist, though less modest than the friend sitting next to her.

Said woman sighed as she closed her brown, serious eyes and adjusted her grey-framed transparent glasses. Much to the opposite of her friend who wore loose clothing, she wore a a blue business uniform that showed very little skin. The back of her brown hair was tied into a long pony-tail. Overall, her presence indicated a possible work-a-holic and a tightly knit woman.

"Yeah," she agreed picking up her can of soda and gulping down a sip before continuing, "...but the stars are still fake..."

It may be weird to say something like that when the stars clearly seemed real, but 10 years ago, the sky was altered with the appearance of Hell's Gate, a chaotic area of space close to Central City that caused all the stars to be replaced with fake stars. Each star represented a contractor, beings with supernatural power as a result of Hell's Gate.

It's a mystery of how Hell's Gate appeared, but what both girls know, of which is kept secret from a majority of the public, is that it has brought up the existence of contractors and other inhuman beings. There's not much else to say though as even researchers are continually perplexed by the gate and its upbringing. For now though, the chaotic area is only a space hidden to the public especially of Central City residents by a large surrounding wall which is meant to keep all curious individuals from entering the gate.

The loose-clothed woman lowered her head and sighed, a little disappointed in the lack of fun that her friend had obviously not been enjoying in her time off. Well, being in her most dreamed position as Chief Section Police of Foreign Affairs, she took her job seriously...too seriously.

"Misaki, You really need to loosen up! You're going to get wrinkles if you don't stop thinking for at least a day about contractors, fake stars, or anything else you usually chase after!" the scientist warned with a hint of tease.

Misaki smiled a little though somehow maintaining her collected mannerism. "Well _Kanami_...you try being in my shoes for a moment and stop thinking about some of the _scenes_ contractors left..."

Kanami's eyes widened as she began waving her hands with shake of her head. "_Nooooo thank you..._I'll probably end up growing white hair. I'm perfectly happy in my position as head staff of the observatory. I couldn't handle dealing with contractors directly which you have proven to be efficient at," she complimented.

Misaki simply scoffed, "Are you saying that I'll be growing older than you?"

Kanami lips turned to the side as she thought. "Well no...maybe..."

The police chief rolled her eyes as she turned back to the stars from the silliness of her friend. She couldn't wait to get back to work with her team. Having breaks such as this time were nice, but it didn't keep her mind off the existence of contractors and murders, hidden assassinations, and hidden political wars that were being waged...especially one particular contractor...

"So how is it going with that contractor you're so obsessed with, BK201?" Kanami asked began pulling out a pocket of cigarettes.

Misaki frowned. "Not much unfortunately, as you've told me before, there hasn't been any activity for a while now...and I appreciate if you didn't smoke next to me..."

Kanami froze as she was pulling on roll of nicotine out of the cartridge. She slowly pushed the roll back down with a sigh knowing full well of her friend's dislike of cigarettes. She couldn't count the number of times her strict friend gave a lecture of how bad it was for the environment, health, and everyone around.

"You really need to get over him...though I can understand why you're so interested in finding more about him. I hear he's also known as the Black Reaper, is that true?" she asked, hoping for her view.

Misaki groaned as she heard that alias so many times, especially by her teammates. "I don't know...all I care for is the facts. I don't particularly believe that is relevant though..."

Kanami frowned herself and sighed once more. "You're no fun..."

"Hey, in my defense, I don't have to watch an old priest all day long," Misaki countered with a grin.

Kanami simply shrugged. "We all have our specialty, this is just mine...though you're right about the priest...It can sometimes feel awkward, especially when you arrive early..."

Both of them giggled in thought of that, then silence reigned for a few moments as the crickets and bugs increased in volume around them. They'd have to start to leave soon even though chatting with each other has been pleasant.

Misaki's eyes blinked as suddenly a star, just meters above the lake from her reference, started to slowly fall in a straight line.

Kanami inwardly pulled her lips to the side. "Looks like a contractor has died..." she stated softly.

Misaki nodded thinking nothing of it. To her, it was normal, however sad it may seemed...then again, more than not, the contractor that had just died probably was just like the rest...killers who think rationally, in other words, for the sake of their own survival.

"Can you ID it?" Misaki asked.

Kanami nodded. "My colleagues are probably already keeping record of which ever contractor that was...you can certainly join us if you're so interested..."

Misaki nodded but something was off about the twinkling shard that was descending down the sky. Maybe it was her, but falling stars usually streak down fast, yet this star was descending unusually slow and also downward as if it were some spaceship.

As far as she knew, spaceships didn't shine that brightly and it certainly wasn't...blinking red?

"Kanami...are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

The scientist could only nod her head her with a confusion apparent on her face.

"That's definitely not a star...and it seems to be actually moving down into the woods ahead of us..." Misaki hypothesized as she squinted through her glasses.

"Hmm..." Kanami hummed with a varying degree of interest, though not enough to feel adventurous in checking out what's going on. As for her friend? That was a entirely different question.

To head scientist's surprise, the police chief stood up quickly from her bench and quickly shifted through her pockets before pulling out a small bean sized capsule that had the number one printed on it. Before her friend could ask what she was planning, she clicked it and threw it on the ground in front of her.

_BOOOF_!

In a cloud of smoke, a small black motorcycle appeared without any tires except for an unusual flat base'. It had been once encased and compressed in the convenient capsules that could be found all over the world today.

She grabbed the black helmet that was lodged with the motorcycle on the side and promptly put it on. Kanami quickly reached out for her.

"Hey wait! Where do you think you're going? It's probably some emergency landing by some hover-mobile," she explained.

Through her helmet, Misaki spoke with suspicion. "It could be that, but I'm pretty sure only higher-level transportation such as an air carrier or mass shuttle is able to descend from an altitude like that. Plus, the city isn't far and there's an emergency landing there. There's no reason for something to descend around this area! I'm going to investigate..." she explained with a firm tone that clearly meant she wasn't going to idle around.

Kanami raised her hands in defeat as she sighed. "Fine, just be careful okay? Knowing our messed up society today, anything is bound to happen..."

Misaki nodded through her helmet, then adjusted herself onto the bike, turning on the engine and revving it up. The bicycle slowly levitated as flat base began glowing and exerting a wind propulsion that pushed at the ground with great force. The chief woman waved goodbye to her friend and then accelerated across the lake, making small ripples form in the water.

The scientist watched until she could no longer see her friend in the number of trees that laid ahead of the lake. She sighed while putting her hand to her forehead.

"Why is it that no day is without some problem appearing? She should be focusing on getting a boyfriend, for pete's sakes," she said to herself as she shook her head sadly, but to be fair, she didn't get a lot of time to spend with her boyfriend when you have to watch fluctuations in the stars all day.

As she prepared to exit the scenery, she stopped as something bugged her about the space shuttle that landed...it seemed to be floating down a little too straight forward right? Not only that, but she could have sworn she saw the outline of the craft for a moment and it looked like some kind of cylindrical shape.

…

_...Nah...There hadn't been cylindrical crafts in centuries! _she thought as she mentally shook her head, but she twisted her lips with some uncertainty.

_...I think, _Kanami added to her thoughts.

* * *

A\N: ...And so it begins! Now that some of the boring stuff is out of the way, hopefully I can get to the more exciting parts that will come.

Again, don't expect consistent updates. It all depends especially when I have another fanfic that I am working on.

Well, hope you enjoy!


	2. Fate Just Doesn't Want Me To Leave

**A\N: **Well hello there! I've been itching to get started writing this chapter! I've been thinking of some of the contractors I'd enjoy employing in terms of fights, there's so many to choose from! If it comes down to it, making up a minor contractor with a weird power and price to pay wouldn't be that hard either, but I prefer to stick with characters that are available in the show and manga...speaking of which, I should probably read the manga as well!

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball Z or Darker Than Black. All are written respectively by Akira Toriyama and Tensai Okamura. All characters portrayed are of their respective anime and manga.

* * *

_**Bam!**_

The sound of a metal banging and a low pitch alarm filled the time capsule as Trunks fisted the side control panel as to not break it under his frustration and partial disbelief. His face and the area around him brightened with a red hue every second as to emphasize a very troublesome problem.

'_Alternator Power is low...new power source required...initiating emergency landing...'_

Trunks sighed beating the sides of his craft with irritation one last time. He was supposed to have full control over the time capsule but so far, everything has gone haywire and been doing things on its own. He thought his mother said that it would have enough power to make two trips, but apparently it did not under farther periods of time. This was truly bad...what could have possibly made this point of his life start so terrible?

He sighed. It was useless to complain. The only thing he could do is wait for the capsule to land and go find some help. Knowing that this is the future of his timeline, he had to assume that technology has advanced and that power should be more than abundant.

_Kami forbid if he finds out that things didn't change so much..._

Looking down below him, Trunks finally noticed he was landing in a possibly remote spot with endless trees and bushes. That's one more thing to add to his list of problems. There was no way he was going to carry this apparent self-automated capsule. If he played it with a low profile, at the most, he could possibly be able to get help, charge his capsule, and leave within a week. Considering this was the future, there had to be recharge high-capacity machines like the time-capsule...

...right?

High pressured air began streaming out the bottom of the cylindrical shaped capsule to pad the landing. The legs of the capsule extended as the view of the green trees grew bigger. Before he knew it, the capsule had landed smoothly onto the ground. Thankfully, there was no hurdling in the air or crashing into buildings. That didn't make up for much though as the whole situation still sucked.

The glass dome opened as the computer shut down in order to save its low battery. Trunks sat in his seat for a moment, taking in his surroundings and the night sky that laid above. Crickets chirped, fireflies buzzed, and a refreshing amount of clean oxygen filled the air.

The sky though...something about the sky didn't seem right. The half-saiyan brushed it off with a scoff, almost embarrassed he was worried about something as trivial as the sky. He got up and jumped down the capsule with no problem. His tight shoes brushed against the grass as it surrounded his feet.

"Now...where can I find the nearest city? What more, how can I do it without alerting everyone?" he questioned aloud. He glanced back at the big yellow machine and curled his lips to the side. Most likely, nobody would come out here to look for this capsule...even if they did, it wouldn't do much good if it didn't have power.

He decided that being extra cautious wouldn't hurt as he pressed a few buttons from the outside, effectively closing the dome and locking the capsule. When the time came, he would be able to unlock it with his recognition.

Before he attempted to wonder his next step, a whirling sound began to hum in the forest. He paused to make sure it wasn't something in the woods. The whirling sound though didn't stop and got increasingly louder. It almost sounded like some type of motor vehicle approaching his position.

..._it was..._

Trunks quickly began thinking of his options, he could hide and leave the capsule open for wonder or he could possibly use the opportunity for help. The latter seemed to be the right choice but he would have to play it cool. He wasn't sure what the status was with people of this timeline, but he hoped it was better than the fearful-stricken attitudes of his own time.

He saw a bright single light shoot through the trees, becoming brighter and brighter. There was no doubt that a person must've saw him land with its bright red emergency signal blinking. How could they not? That must've meant he wasn't too far from a city though.

The motor vehicle and person came into view. The vehicle was most definitely a hover vehicle, that's for sure...but a kind he immediately couldn't recognize. It was black and had an unbelievably flat base for a hover vehicle. Other than that, it looked like a regular motorcycle. The person riding had a black helmet which made it impossible in seeing whoever was behind. It looked like the person had just come back from work as he or she wore an obvious blue business attire.

The hovercycle stopped and swerved in front of him, giving him a full side view of the unknown vehicle. While he rarely drove, much less a motor vehicle, he couldn't deny that looking at the shiny black cycle made him want to try one.

Looking up at the driver who was unrecognizable underneath the helmet, he could tell it was a woman for...well, obvious reasons. He could see a long strand of hair sticking behind her, indicating that her hair was likely in a ponytail of some sort.

The woman got off her cycle, leaving it on, signaling that she wasn't intending on staying. She put her hands onto her side and took a good look at Trunks who in return attempted to give an earnest smile.

"Hey, excuse me, what are you doing here? Don't you know you've landed in a remote area?" the woman asked, muffled under her protector. The tone of her voice sounded authoritative and demanding.

Trunks continued to smile though he was a little irked to be asked something as obvious as a remote area. He wasn't going to voice his displeasure though. He nodded. "Yeah, my power was low and I was forced to land," he replied.

Trunks watched as she unstrapped and lifted her helmet from her head. The woman had seemingly an average face with narrow eyes and glasses. Her dark hair was tightly clipped leaving no loose ends except for several strands of hair to each side of her head. She looked to be around her late 20s. The first thing that came to mind as he saw her was...

_...workaholic..._

One of the woman's eyebrows raised. "Are you sure you don't have enough power? I mean, Central City isn't that far," she commented.

_Central City, huh? Well...it doesn't seem that the names have changed much,_ Trunks commented, mentally.

The half-saiyan began to rub his neck. He wished he could continue the ship further, but unfortunately his mother had put a safety mechanism that prevented use beyond a measured power. Right now, there was nothing else but to tell the truth, but he wanted to avoid having to explain he was from the past.

"Yeah...heh..." he lightly laughed it off, "Actually, this ship has a safety mechanism. It's not maneuverable until it gets charged,"

The woman frowned. She hadn't heard any mechanism like that before. She focused her gaze on the yellow dome shaped ship before her. In fact, she hadn't seen anything like this ship before! Just what was it? It was obvious a Capsule Corporation ship by its logo. It probably was a prototype that was being tested.

Looking back at Trunks and his purple jacket, she caught sight the Capsule Corporation logo which she could only assume meant that the man was testing. Her suspicion was rising and she could only question the backed up time-traveler more.

"Look, I don't know what's going on or even what kind of ship that is, but I'm going to have to see some identification and permit that says you're even allowed to fly that thing. Unless I'm mistaken, I'm guessing you're an employee from Capsule Corporation that's testing some prototype, but either way, I need to see some authorization from the city that allows you to test in its territory..."

Trunks flinched. It dawned on him that this woman was clearly some city officer or official. Well that was just great, maybe it was better to just hide.

_...This is not good...If I run now though, there's a chance that this ship will get confiscated. Damn it, why is it turning out like this! Maybe I can bluff a bit... _Trunks thought.

"Well you see-" Trunks began but immediately cut himself off as heard two footsteps that surprised him. It may have been nothing more than fellow colleagues of the woman...which if it was, it would make his persuasion a little less effective.

"...you see?" the woman repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"Um...I'm sorry ma'am, but...did you bring anyone with you?" the half-saiyan asked, unsure why he was feeling so...wary.

The woman furrowed her eyebrows, getting a little impatient. "Stop changing the subject! What do you mean by other people? I don't hear anything..."

"_Wow..._he's good..." an amused, feminine voice spoke.

Trunks and the apparent officer blinked in surprise and quickly turned to face the interrupting presence. They were equally surprised to see a large man with vibrant red spiky hair, rough face, and one eye shut along with a woman with blond hair, light blue eyes, and...completely nude.

It was quite obvious that these were not friends nor colleagues of the officer. A feeling in his gut told him they were dangerous even though his senses waved them off as loonies.

"Wha-who are you?" the officer asked, completely embarrassed by the lack of modesty that the blond-haired woman had in appearing nude.

The blond-haired woman was, at the least, amused. "Well Amagiri, it seems we have another person who is ashamed of showing off what's most natural..."

The red-haired man, apparently named Amagiri, grunted. "I don't blame them...Don't lose focus, Brita..." he remarked in a low voice.

He focused his one-eyed gaze at the purple-haired half-saiyan. For a moment, he studied the half-saiyan and slightly grinned to the side. "It's pretty obvious this is our guy," he stated.

The nude woman beside him, called Brita, smiled suggestively. "Ooh, he's pretty handsome...I'm going to enjoy trying to catch him..."

Trunks couldn't help but believe that somehow this was staged. He stood his ground, preparing in case something happened. He wasn't sure why, but something about these two, other than the fact that girl was nude, made him uneasy.

"I don't know what you want with me, but I think you have the wrong guy..." he stated.

The officer's eyes narrowed as she pulled out from her back pocket a badge that confirmed Trunks guess. Unfortunately, he wasn't sure if that was quite the right item to pull out.

"I don't know what's going on here, but if you don't leave this area. I'll have you arrested for disrupting official business and indecency," she threatened as she showed them her badge. The couple though focused on the half-saiyan with indifference to the glass-wearing officer.

"I'm positive that we actually do have the right guy. You're coming with us," Amagiri ordered, offering a hand.

The half-saiyan stepped back and then put one of his hands behind him and gripped the handle of his sword from the back. He paused and glared at the red-haired man.

"...and if I say no?"

Amagiri sighed, apparently wishing this was easier. He pulled up his arm and lifted his palm, facing it towards the ship. This gesture, all too familiar to the half-saiyan, looked as if he was going to fire a ki blast. He wasn't sure if the man was fooling him or what, but for whatever reason, somehow...these people knew he was going to be here. How that was possible was a mystery and he couldn't think straight in this situation

"If you aren't cooperative, I can assure you that you won't be having much of a ship to get back home. We'll drag you if need be," he explained.

With that, Trunks furrowed his eyebrows while the officer, who Trunks has yet to know as Misaki, widened her eyes and immediately switch her badge to a 9mm black pistol and aimed it at the couple. She internally cursed as her suspicion rose to the fact that these citizens were likely not human, they were contractors!

"Don't move! Put your hands in your air!" she ordered, holding the pistol firmly, ready to fire. Why contractors would be for this man she just met was confusing. She wasn't going to let them get away with what they wanted however...

The two ignored the woman with the gun as they focused on the purple-headed man. "So, what's it gonna be, hun?" the blond-haired woman asked, smirking.

Trunks carefully looked at Amagiri with most dissatisfaction. He wasn't sure what these two were capable of, but they felt hostile and therefore, he wasn't going to trust going with them.

_...Mom...is going to kill me..._ Trunks thought.

With that, he surprised everyone as he sprinted, lifting Misaki into his arms causing a quick yelp from the officer before disappearing into the woods. The whole grab-and-run scene surprised the two contractors especially at how swift their half-saiyan target was.

Amagiri cursed as changed directions of his arm and aimed into the direction of where the half-saiyan had sprinted, unfortunately though, he couldn't get a good shot. At this moment, it was pointless to try to destroy his ship since the chase had already started.

"Looks like it's time for playing tag," Brita said with a smile.

Amagiri looked at his fellow nude comrade, continuing to ignore the fact that the woman was nude. "Be careful, we don't know what he's capable of..."

The nudist winked, happy that Amagiri was concerned for her. "Don't worry, I know..." she reassured as she leaned and put her hand on his shoulder.

In a flash of white speckles of light, the woman and Amagiri's body glowed and then disappeared like lightning, leaving a yellow time-machine and hovering cycle alone in the woods.

* * *

Misaki gasped, a little shocked at what happened. She was now being carried in the arms by a stranger who was retreating pretty fast from the yellow ship. She pulled the pistol close to her and changed her grip as to avoid accidental firing off the weapon from the quick movements of Trunks.

"What the hell are you doing? You should've just let me handle this!" Misaki yelled though the half-saiyan took no heed to the officer.

_**BOOM!**_

"Ah!" Misaki screamed as she quickly pulled herself towards the half-saiyan's chest, feeling a rush of sound and pressure rush past her.

Trunks kept his eyes forward as the concussive blast hit a nearby tree, causing it to collapse behind them. The half-saiyan was surprised to feel a wave of pressure and sound instead of energy. He couldn't say he had ever been hit with something as pure as that, but he wasn't going to find out either especially with a woman.

"You were saying?" Trunks yelled back which caused Misaki to bite her lips at the turn of events. This wasn't what she expected when she agreed to take a day off. Just when she was under armed and letting herself relax, she ends up in a bad situation.

She put her arms on Trunks shoulders as she pulled her head up to see if the contractors were behind her. Surely enough, they were but in a short time, the two vanished in a flash of light.

Misaki widened her eyes and cursed. She had heard about contractors who could teleport themselves and other people and objects, but this was the first time she witnessed one. Her eyes floated to the back of Trunk where she noticed a sword in its sheath.

She decided now was not the best time to ask.

Trunks eyes widened as the two contractors, as they were called, suddenly reappeared in a flash of glowing white in front of him. Amagiri had his arm up and ready as he fired another blast at him.

"Shit!" Trunks cursed as he leapt aside, turning himself and avoiding the concussive blast.

_**BOOM!**_

Once again, he heard a few trees come crashing down behind him but he wasn't going to look to make sure.

Misaki, at the moment, couldn't believe the stamina and speed of the stranger that was holding him. The stranger was definitely a lot faster than herself and her fellow teammates. Trees flew by her as if she was speeding through the woods on her hovercycle!

Once again, the contractors appeared before the half-saiyan except closer. They were behind a large tree that blocked the half-saiyan's view with Amagiri ready to fire another wave of sound. Seeing at which the speed of the concussive blasts created by the red-haired man were literally the speed of sound. He knew he wouldn't be able to dodge them at this close of a range. So he did the most logical thing...

_Fire first..._

"Hang on!" he exclaimed causing the held woman to tightly shut her eyes and put her arms around the half-saiyan's neck. At this point, though she hated it, she was completely under the stranger's discretion. She was definitely going to question him later. This type of encounter doesn't happen by chance.

Trunks pushed his hands forward, causing the two contractors to widen their eyes as a sudden ball of white energy was fired at them from the half-saiyan's hand. The blond-haired woman quickly took initiative as she teleported away and out of the half-saiyan's aim.

_**BOOM!**_

A cloud of dust and dirt expanded from impact while the large tree's base was blown away. The tree quickly fell down, hitting other trees and branches in the process earning a loud thump in the midst of the cloud of dirt. Seeing as this was the perfect chance for a getaway, Trunks continued running into the cloud he created and then smoothly took off from his feet, reaching towards the nighttime sky.

By the time he had took off into the night, the contractors left behind reappeared outside of the cloud of dirt. Both of them only glared ahead of them and into the sky until they found out he had successfully escaped them.

"Well, that was unexpected...and here I thought I liked him. So other than almost being blown to bits, what is our next plan?" the nude woman asked her partner.

Amagiri didn't express any emotion. He simply shrugged. "We have his ship so he won't be going anywhere, anytime soon. I have a feeling that we've done our part for now..."

* * *

Misaki, who was now feeling dazed by the whole incident, wrapped herself even tighter among the half-saiyan for fear of losing consciousness. Right now, she couldn't trust a stranger even if he seemed to be helping her...speaking of which, it was ominously quiet. Had they lost them?

A gentle, cool breeze touched her neck causing her to shiver a little. There was something off as she felt herself being carried. Slowly unwrapping her arms, her eyes shot open to see that they were in mid-air...flying.

"Shit!" she yelled as panic began to subdue her.

Trunks, kinda expecting a reaction like this, tried to calm her down the best way possible.

"Hey, hey, hey! Relax...it's alright, I'm not going to drop you..." he reassured.

The officer paled a little at the thought of being dropped from hundreds of feet in the air, but she could feel the stranger's hands tight grip which gave her some reassurance. With her heart having yet to calm down, she turned towards the half-saiyan and glared at him.

"You're...you're a contractor!" she stated as if it was a matter of fact.

Trunks quizzically raised an eyebrow. "Contractor? What is that?"

Misaki furrowed her eyebrows as her skin regained some color and her heart started to regain its normal rhythm. She was clearly annoyed by the half-saiyan's curiosity.

"Don't play dumb with me! I've seen others contractors who are able to null gravity like you are doing. I don't know what your plan is or why you helped me, but I'm not going to become a part of it!" she exclaimed with immense suspicion in her tone.

The purple-haired saiyan frowned, not enjoying at all the distrust that she was giving off. The least she could do was say 'thank you'! Right now, he needed more than ever someone to trust. Whatever was going on apparently had something to do with him. He needed answers and it wasn't going to help if a person, much less an officer, wasn't willing to provide information that would let him know what was going on.

"Look miss, I'm not sure what you're talking about or what the hell is going on here, but I need some answers and then I'll gladly tell you whatever you need to know," he offered which almost made Misaki confused. She only attributed it to the "contractor" possibly tricking her.

Seeing suspicion in her eyes, he sighed. This was not what he expected...this was so far off from what he expected!

He looked up ahead and found himself facing a blistering city of tall buildings, domed towers, and even a small amusement park that laid ahead. He could only assume that this was Central City, but at the same time, it wasn't since it looked so much larger and different than he could imagine. To his embarrassment, he decided to confirm.

"Is...um...that Central City?" he asked.

Misaki turned her head and gave a sigh of relief. "Yeah, it is...if you still want answers, then you can drop me off at the police headquarters," she offered which only in turned made the half-saiyan drop his head and sigh. He didn't have any choice in the matter though. He may be able to find information on his own, but he wasn't sure how long that would take especially when everything seemed to have changed so much.

_This is not what I had in mind, _Trunks thought with regret. He should've just broken out of the time machine when he had the chance...now, he couldn't help but feel that he wasn't going to see that yellow bastard in a while.

As he continued to fly, something caught his eye as he noticed a large wall next to the city that surrounded a portion of area. It was enclosed along with a glass dome of some shape. There was...something about it that made the half-saiyan's stomach churn. He hadn't had this feeling ever since the androids were released in the alternative past that was now saved.

He was tempted to ask the officer but it didn't look like she was willing to answer anything from him. How stubborn...

Whatever it was, he certainly didn't like it and getting away from it had somehow got on his list of things to do. He only hoped that this woman would answer his questions and hopefully clear up this "contractor" name as it didn't make it feel any better.

As they slowly descended in altitude, Trunks couldn't help but need to know her name. It was important considering he had a feeling that they'd be talking for a while...or rather, she interrogating him for a while.

"Can I ask for your name at least?" he asked, hopeful.

Luckily, the officer was willing to provide her name...or at least part of it.

"You can call me Kirihara, what about yours?" she asked, her voice slightly strained and tired. It was natural considering all that had happened.

"Trunks...Trunks Briefs..." he answered.

* * *

**A\N: **That should be good enough for a chapter since the next will be a lot of questions, answers, more questions, unknown answers, and...yeah, I think you get the gist.


	3. World of Change

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z or Darker Than Black. All are written respectively by Akira Toriyama and Tensai Okamura. All characters portrayed are of their respective anime and manga.

* * *

Central City glowed in the night with its high, white stoned buildings towering over the citizens that filled the city like ants, and high energy lights that brightened the ground below them. Many types of buildings filled the view of the half-saiyan, Trunks Briefs, as he stared in awe at the amount of work that has gone into reconstruction in about two centuries. Nothing much changed about the buildings with its variety of shapes and domes, but you'd be a fool if you didn't notice that they really got bigger with time. In addition, he saw the various roads and tunnels that were spread on the ground and above. It looked like a circuit board from the altitude he was at. Overall, he was amazed at how much variety had gone into the architecture...other than of course, the same plain colors.

"Put us down there in small dark alleyway," the woman in his arms, Misaki Kirihara, spoke as she pointed below them at a small passageway between two buildings, unattended by light or people. The half-saiyan nodded and slowly drifted down, keeping any eye out below for anyone who may be watching with their mouths agape.

With a light tap to the ground, both of their hairs floated for a moment before it settled down to the gravity. Misaki promptly pushed the half-saiyan's chest as she lifted herself off of the man's arms. Her legs were slightly shaking, but Trunks wasn't going to mention considering the hostility he felt from her.

It was only moments in silence as the woman recouped herself and let out a heavy sigh. Her composure was regained and she glared at the "contractor" with great distrust. The half-saiyan was able to see the woman's scrunched up facial features despite the darkness of the alleyway that covered them.

"We're only a few blocks away from the headquarters, but I'm warning you, if you try anything, I won't hesitate to shoot," the stern woman warned with venom clear in her throat.

The half-saiyan sighed and raised his arms in understanding as he got her message though it was possible she couldn't see with the dark.

"Yes, yes," he answered in a pretty solemn tone. Of all the people that could have came to greet him, he got a police woman and two others who he could only assume were 'contractors' since they had powers too. Not exactly a welcome party although he wasn't expecting to get any really.

Still, he would get his answers one way or the other, but right now, he would comply with the woman's demands. If it turned out to be that he wasn't getting anywhere, he wasn't afraid to escape and do things on his own.

The woman glared daggers through her petite glasses and then stepped to the side of the half-saiyan, raising her hand up in front of the saiyan.

"I'll need you to give me that sword as well," the woman requested.

This time, Trunks wasn't so reluctant to just hand out his trusted sword. He glared back at the woman and shook his head.

"Sorry, the sword stays with me," Trunks answered firmly.

Misaki seemed to keep her professional mannerism in check and simply frowned. "This isn't only because I don't trust you, I can't have a dangerous weapon like that out in the open. People will become suspicious," she explained.

Trunks sighed, realizing that the woman did have a point though it wasn't like he had to worry about it before. He shifted his hands into a pocket of his purple jacket and pulled a small tiny item. Luckily, they were in the dark and Misaki couldn't see very well what the half-saiyan was pulling out. Nevertheless, she had backed slightly away and pulled her hand close to her glock in case he tried anything suspicious.

A second later and a small poof of smoke, Misaki widened her eyes and quickly began to clear the smoke away with one hand while putting a sleeve close to her mouth in case, not wanting to inhale any of the particles that was slowly dispersing.

"Trunks!" she shouted, calling out the half-saiyan's name for the first time. Her voice was wary as she wondered what the half-saiyan was planning. Her questions would be answered though as she saw the half-saiyan holding a capsule in his hands once the smoke fully cleared. She came to realization that he had stored the sword as it was no longer visible behind his back. The man promptly dropped it back into his jacket pocket.

"There shouldn't be any problem now?" he asked plainly which earned another glare from the woman. Though she expected compliance from those who wanted her help or were in custody, she wasn't going to push the man knowing full well that it would be easy for him to escape since he could "null gravity".

"Fine, just as long as it stays hidden," she replied with an annoyed huff. After a moment of venting mentally, she walked ahead a bit and then turned around to Trunks.

"You start first. I'll walk behind you and point you in the right direction. It'll only be a short while," she instructed. The half-saiyan curled his lips as the woman only seemed to emphasized how much she didn't trust him. It made him wonder how dangerous these 'contractors' were. He'd definitely want to clear his name from that title though as he had no intentions of getting these kinds of attitudes.

The half-saiyan sighed begrudgingly and started walking forward, glancing behind him as he heard the taps from the woman. With the sight of bright lights filling the his view increasingly, it wasn't long before he came into the arteries of a lively city.

The standard hover cars buzzed as they swiftly passed through the streets. There were a variety of new cars and shapes that the time traveler had never seen but the concept of hovering hadn't changed. One thing particular he noticed was the lack of the old-wheeled cars that people in his time occasionally drove. Then again, it would be quite silly if there were people who hadn't adopted in two centuries.

The sidewalks were surprisingly lively with groups walking to have some fun, business men and women who were likely walking back home after a long day of work, and even children who laughed and played in between the people walking.

It was a surprisingly refreshing change as opposed to the cracked sidewalks and the abandoned streets that filled many cities in his time. He could only gaze in awe at the warmness of the city at night. It was quite beautiful.

"Hey! Let's get going, we don't have all day here!" Misaki lightly pushed the half-saiyan to get moving. The half-saiyan blinked in response and smiled sheepishly at himself for getting distracted. It couldn't be helped though...it had just been so long since he'd seen a city with this much liveliness.

He pressed forward and dived into the foot traffic of street travelers. Kirihara kept up closely behind at a brisk pace. He assumed that she would let him know when to turn or to stop. Until, then he took the time to absorb the environment that surrounded him. It was, of course, noisy and normally the half-saiyan never enjoyed this kind of environment. That's not to say he still wasn't comfortable, but at the very least, it was so much better than abandoned, ghost streets.

A couple people passed by him in the opposite direction who were talking by themselves. It was likely that they were on the phone but the weirdly enough, they weren't holding anything to their head or had a device lodged into their ears to hear and speak into. It was as if they just were talking and responding without any form of device. He wasn't sure whether that talking by yourself was a common trait in this time or he that was certainly missing something with his sharp hearing and observable eyes.

Then he saw some people actually carrying their phones to their head like normally or had some sort of medium to talk with. So it seemed that actual _visible _mediums of communications hadn't gone extinct. That made him a little relieved which meant if he needed to get some communication, he didn't have to worry about some new technology such as non-visible devices.

"Hey hey! Where do you want to go, tonight?"

Trunks ears perked as he heard a girl ask a question to what looked to be her boyfriend. As he passed by them like everyone else, he caught a glimpse of something...different.

"Hm? Well, let me pull up some interesting restaurants," the boyfriend replied and somehow opened up a holographic plane of information just a foot away from his face. His eyes were scanning intently as pictures and words floated down in a contained space. With a small buzz, the holographic plane disappeared in front of him and he smiled, apparently finding the perfect place for his date.

Trunks, at this point, was quite astonished. He had seen nothing like that in his time! It...it almost looked like a computer except it just sprouted in front of him like nothing and holographic no less! To say he was curious was an understatement.

_I could definitely tell my mother about what I've seen when I get back! _Trunks thought with awe.

Something was amiss though...and as he looked on between the passing people and drivers in the hover cars, it became obvious. It wasn't long before his eyes widened to some shocking revelation.

_They were all human..._

There wasn't a single sign of any wolf-man, dog-man, or any sign of intelligent animals mixing with the humans. This didn't go well in the pit of his stomach and he could only worry why that is. His thoughts continued to the royal dog family in charge of Earth...surely they still were still in charge, right?

"HEY!"

Trunks stopped as he was pulled out of his thoughts and soon noticed that Kirihara wasn't following him anymore. He turned back and saw her a few feet away from some building steps. He realized that he had drifted a bit after being too preoccupied with the strange, new technology and environment.

"Eh..." Trunks began, rubbing his neck a little embarrassed while the police chief only glared at him.

* * *

"So...you're saying that this man is a contractor and he willingly came with you here?" a large man asked confused in a low, deep voice. The man, Yuusuke Saito, had a squarish face, short-cut black hair, and a large nose. He was the subordinate of Chief Kirihara.

Chief Kirihara nodded, standing with him in front of a low-reflective mirror, separating two rooms. Behind that wall, the half-saiyan Trunks was situated in an interrogation room along with a young, ruffled blond haired and green eyed male opposite of him and asking him questions. Both of them were looking at each other with lazy eyes, apparently wondering to themselves why they were in the room for different reasons. It didn't help much to Trunks that in one of the corners stood a muscular guard with a gun ready at his hand in case he made any kind of assault.

"I know it sounds weird, but it's the truth. In addition, when I first met him in a forest near the star laboratory, two contractors attacked us. Luckily, he was able to null gravity and I had no choice but to escape with him," she explained.

Yuusuke chuckled nervously as he began rubbing his head, wondering the best way to respond. He wasn't doubting the chief, but the details were a bit unclear.

"It um...sounds like he saved you, Chief," the man responded, instantly regretting the words as his superior glared at him under her petite glasses.

Yuusuke began sweating and taking a tiny step back with his arms in front of him. "I-I mean, I'm not doubting you or anything chief, but why would he want to be here!? Personally, this would be the last place to go to if he is a contractor," the man questioned.

Misaki let up her glare and sighed. She was quite tired and what was left of her "time off" had gone completely to waste. She inwardly wondered if this was her fault for being too curious and letting her chief duties get the best of her.

"I've never said he wanted to go here, but he needed some answers. Why he complied though is something that makes me wonder as well. Regardless, we need to find out what happened. There were two other contractors that wanted him for some reason," she explained.

Yuusuke dropped his shoulder and let out a breath of relief. Seeing the chief get mad was scary and you never wanted to be in the direct line of sight when that happens. He glanced at the semi-transparent glass where his colleague, Yukata Kono, was asking questions to this...contractor.

To be honest, everyone was skeptical and then completely shocked when they found out that Kirihara had brought in a contractor. It was...quite a scene to be honest. At first, everyone was up in arms about a contractor at the headquarters but so far the 'contractor' had complied nicely.

"Well, let's see if Yukata can get anything out of him," he said though, by the looks, it doesn't seem like neither of them were getting anywhere. He had to admit though that he was a bit curious about this unusual man. Firstly, he never seen someone with a hair color as lavender as his and secondly...

"What did you say his name was again?" Yuusuke asked.

Kirihara's eyes twitched a little, but that was all the amount of movement that was received. "Trunks...Briefs..." she answered hesitantly with a peeved voice.

...and that was the second most unusual thing. Who the hell would call themselves 'Trunks Briefs'? If that was just a fake name to keep his identity hidden, it was an extremely poor attempt.

Misaki sighed knowing what her subordinate was thinking. "Yeah, I know..."

Then, on cue, her pocket buzzed with the vibration of her phone. She pulled in out and checked the number in one motion. She immediately recognized it to be her friend, Kanami. Most likely, she was worried. In all that had happened, it was she must have heard the explosions.

She activated the phone and put it to her ear, turning away from Yuusuke as he watched the questions being asked behind the window.

"Kanami," Misaki acknowledged and was received with a loud sigh of relief.

"_Thank goodness! What happened out there?! I heard some loud explosions just outside the laboratory and got worried. Not only that, but my colleagues immediately warned me that there were contractors that had appeared close in the forest you were in! Where are you...and more importantly, are you okay?!"_

Misaki couldn't help but smile, appreciating the concern her friend was emitting through the phone. Her face returned to her normal, serious outlook and hummed in confirmation.

"Mm...yeah I'm okay. I'm currently at the headquarters so you don't have to worry anymore. Were you able to identify the contractors?" she asked.

Kanami sounded quite annoyed as she responded. "_Ah I see, straight to business right? Not even describing what happened..._"

Misaki let out an apologetic smile and moved to a more sincere tone. "Sorry Kanami, I'll definitely fill you in on the details later, but right now, I need to get any information possible about the contractors that were present in the forest," she explained hoping that her friend would understand.

The woman behind the phone sighed again and relented. "_Kay, just give me a moment..."_

Misaki nodded and waited patiently. Having her friend as the head observer of the stargazing laboratory did have its benefits. She had helped the police force capture many contractors by using the activity of the stars as a consistent navigator.

"_According to our information at the time, two contractors were active near the forest. They're unknown so we don't have an official messier code for them at the moment,_" Kanami answered.

This shocked Kirihara a bit. Two? It was obvious that the nude woman and brutish red-haired male that attacked them were contractors, but being a witness to Trunks ascent to the sky, she was sure that there should have been a third.

"_Misaki? Hello, are you there? Don't leave me hanging here, what's going on?!_" her friend asked incredulously.

Misaki blinked and then fought hard against the amount of questions that had now appeared in her mind. It could have been easily a mistake with the system out there.

"Are you positive, Kanami? Are you sure that there were only two?" she asked once more to reaffirm.

Kanami was a bit confused but she nonetheless continued to answer her friend. "_Yes...we're positive. In fact, there were actually no activity at all within the stars except two at the time so there isn't really any chance for error. Are you okay, Misaki?"_

Misaki bit her lips, thinking back to the quick escape Trunks made and how he was able to fly in the air with her. Certainly she wasn't disillusioned with what happened. Not wanting to worry her friend again with silence, she decided that there wasn't really much to talk about left right now.

"Yeah, I'm okay, Kanami. I'll meet up with you later and explain the details," she concluded.

The scientist behind the phone gave a reluctant sigh. "_Yeah okay, don't trouble yourself though. Remember, stress never does a complexion good, kay?_"

Misaki gave a genial laugh and nodded, "Don't have to remind me twice now. I'll see ya soon, Kanami. Bye," she ended and then stopped the communications with her phone. She was glad that she and her friend used the traditional methods of talking rather than...well..._the other method_.

Right on time, Yukata finally appeared out of the interrogation and immediately slipped his hands into his pockets and drew out a long sigh. It was apparent he was a bit annoyed and tired with the lavender-haired man he was talking to.

"Are you sure this man is a contractor? He sounds crazy if you ask me," the young man commented.

Both Misaki and Yuusuke frowned at the lazy attitude of their colleague but focused on material of the mysterious man.

"Crazy is irrelevant here, don't forget that contractors are manipulative. What did he tell you?" Misaki asked, putting away the fact that only two stars were active during her time with him. She would find out what's really going on.

Yukata scratched his blond hair and recalled the talk. "He says he's not from this time period and that he came here accidentally by mistake. He also says that he's not this 'contractor' you speak of and that there's some mistake being made. Right now, it seems his intention is just getting information and he refuses to answer anymore of my questions until he gets his answers," he explained.

Yuusuke looked at Misaki with one eyebrows raised. Even he was a little bit confused. A time-traveler? He had enough common sense to know that contractors are rational beings and they wouldn't claim something that wasn't possible.

Misaki looked down at the floor and narrowed her eyes as she thought. It was possible this guy was a fake; however, already his claims of not being a contractor was being supported by her friend's analysis. If he wasn't a contractor, then how was he able to null gravity?

She raised her head with a serious outlook and then turned towards her two subordinates. "I need you guys to do a search on 'Trunks Briefs' and see what you can find in the database," she ordered.

Both Yukata and Yuusuke gazed at their boss in shock. The younger out of them chuckled in disbelief. "Are you kidding me? How will any result pop up from that name?"

Misaki growled. "It doesn't matter, okay! We'll play along with what we have. As preposterous it sounds, we can use that as a solid base to see if he's only in a cover or not," she explained.

Both of them dropped their shoulders and nodded. Before they returned to their desks though, Yuusuke glanced at the chief.

"What are you going to do, chief?" he asked.

"I'll talk to him. Return to me if you find anything. Let's not report this to the head chief yet, okay?" she answered.

Yukata nodded reluctantly and went to work. He looked at the sky in a nearby window and frowned, realizing that he may not get any sleep tonight.

Misaki then proceeded to the interrogation room that Yukata had just been in. There was a scanner next to the door knob where she pulled out her authorization card to be granted access into the room. With a green light from the scanner and a beep, the door unlocked and caused one half-saiyan to perk up as he laid in his chair with crossed arms over his chest.

"You're not making this easy, Trunks," she commented as she entered the room and sat in a chair across from the half-saiyan.

Trunks simply frowned with a vein visible on his forehead. "I've already figured out that you probably won't believe me when I say that the yellow capsule machine you saw me with was a time-machine," he replied back, annoyed.

Based on her colleague's reaction, it was kind of shocking to find out that time machines hadn't been available after two centuries. It was either that or it was hidden from public knowledge. He wasn't sure which. This didn't make it easy at all and complicated things a lot. Not to mention, this could be bad considering that his machine was likely in the hands of the two mysterious attackers in the forest.

Misaki kept a poker face though she wanted to more than ever scoff. "Can you blame us? Time machines isn't exactly an available good," she said only to emphasize the half-saiyan's assumption.

He looked at the chief known as Misaki with surprise. "Are you saying that nobody has tried building it before?" he asked.

Misaki furrowed her eyebrows, partially in disbelief and partially in impatience. Most everyone in the world knew about the attempts at time-travel. Each one failed and cost billions of zenis. After a few decades of research and development, it was finally concluded by many industrial companies that it wasn't possible and not worth the financial expense. This guy surely knew that it wasn't possible.

"Look, you can drop the cover alright? Nobody has successfully built a time machine or capsule. I'm beginning to doubt that you're even from Capsule Corporation. Who are you, really?"

Trunks sat there a bit dumbfounded. From what he assumed Misaki was telling him, people had attempted to time travel...and everyone of them failed. If that was the case, then his mother had likely kept the time capsule a secret the whole time and destroyed the blueprints to the machine...algorithms...everything. He could understand why; allowing people to time travel was risky business. It was already proven that it won't affect current timelines but it can affect alternate timelines, thus it wasn't to be toyed with.

...and he just brought one here...

The implications wasn't good. Now more than ever, he needed to find a way to get back and prevent the secret from being found out. He began regretting the decision to escape and leave the capsule behind. Luckily, he had locked it which meant it would take a while until who ever his attackers were would figure out how to unlock it.

Focusing back to the situation at hand, he looked at Misaki who was awaiting his response and sighed.

"I haven't been lying, Miss Kirihara," he answered a little bit more politely knowing now, more than ever, he could use some aid, "Can you tell me what a contractor is, please? I overheard you talking with your friend about these stars and contractors..."

Misaki blinked for a moment and then caught on to what Trunks was saying. She opened her mouth in shock but didn't say anything. Closing it, she then glared at the half-saiyan.

"How did you know? There's no way you could have heard me," she asked with a glare and a low growl behind her teeth.

Trunks blinked and then realized his mistake in admittance. He was able to hear sharper than an average human thanks to years of training. Sometimes though, he forgot the relative wall between him and an average human. He knew this wasn't going to make it easier and only raise more suspicion. He certainly didn't want that.

Despite his mistake, he wasn't going to worry about it right now. He glared back at the suspicious woman to show her how serious he was about this.

"Look, it doesn't matter how. What matters to me is finding out about this time line, why I was attacked, and how I can get back to my own time," he answered simply.

Misaki continued her glare for a moment before closing her eyes and sighing. There was no way he couldn't be a contractor. Though something about him told otherwise and she knew that contractors were manipulative. Underneath that clueless mask was a contractor who had plans. She was beginning to wonder if taking him into 'custody' was the right decision.

For right now, she would give him the answers he wanted to know. Maybe then, she could find more about this man.

"Fine, I'll tell you," she said, closing her eyes and earning a small but relieved smile from the half-saiyan.

She told him briefly about contractors, beings with supernatural powers who had a common characteristic of thinking rationally and only for themselves. She also told him some details of the stars and how they were aligned with each contractor in the world. The real stars were replaced by fake ones after the rising of Hell's Gate, a chaotic area of space. Overall though, she kept everything relatively small in comparison to the bigger picture.

The half-saiyan took this new information with surprise and found out why he had been regarded as a contractor. In all honesty, he wasn't sure if the situation with the citizens of Earth had changed much. Compared to the fearful attitudes of his own time, people here was isolated from the existence of contractors for their own sake. He couldn't help but feel that everything pointed to the same reason, "fear". He wasn't exactly sure what to think about these contractors...they do anything they can to survive, ,but was it because they were not accepted?

"So after hearing that, can you say that you are not a contractor?" Misaki asked, narrowing her eyes.

Trunks curled his lips to his side and then slowly shook his head. "I'd like to say I can act rationally, but...the way you're describing these contractors is different. I understand why you think I'm a contractor, but I assure you that my abilities are not to the same degree. From your conversation, your friend said that only two stars were active right? Shouldn't that prove me otherwise?"

Misaki widened her eyes for a moment but then remained composed as a chief would. She still couldn't believe how he was able to hear that from this enclosed room. While she couldn't deny that he was making sense, she was unable to lift her suspicions.

"Okay, if it is as you say and you're not this 'contractor', what are you?" she asked.

At this moment, Trunks was glad that this was actually getting somewhere as oppose to the blond haired guy he met. As he was about to explain himself, the sound of the door unlocking stopped him.

"Chief!"

Peaking from the door, Yuusuke with eyes of disbelief looked on at the chief. The chief in return growled, a little annoyed that her colleague didn't have the common sense to know that you never interrupt a meeting in the interrogation room, ever.

"What is it, Yuusuke?" she replied with a sharp tone that made her colleague wince.

Yuusuke stammered a bit, glancing between Trunks and her before he cleared his throat and continued. "Y-you're not going to believe this. We found...uh...some information," he said, carefully rewording himself to make his findings as ambiguous as possible. Unfortunately, he did a poor job and Trunks could easily tell that the information found was something about him. Whether it was good or bad was something he'd have to find out later.

Misaki huffed and then stood up from her chair. She glanced at me one more time before walking towards the door and moving out of the interrogation room with her poor colleague. The half-saiyan winced a bit as he heard from the other side of the wall a harsh snatching, most likely of his records or something. It would be quite surprising if that was the case considering how long it had been.

"!"

There wasn't much to listen on to, likely because Misaki knew that he'd be listening in. He did feel her grow quite surprised though as he heard a slight gasp. What came next was an order to her colleague.

"I'll need to report this to the head chief. In the meantime, I need you to keep him busy," she ordered.

"Huh? But-"

"Don't worry, he's been pretty obedient so far. Just for a little while until we find out what to do," she explained.

He heard the the man, apparently named Yuusuke, sigh reluctantly, something of which seemed to be a pretty common action of late, and nodded. With that, he heard the Misaki walk away and her fellow colleague get closer.

He bit his lips. He wasn't sure what was going on and he wondered what was going to happen. For now, he would wait patiently and hope for the best.

Yuusuke entered the room looking pretty forlorn. Instead of taking a seat, he seemed to feel a bit awkward now with having to work with the half-saiyan with him...along with an armed guard who had so far done nothing but stand like a statue.

He didn't look at the half-saiyan in the eye except for a couple times, opening his mouth once or twice, but unsure of what to talk about. The half-saiyan simply curled his lips wondering if this was a good time to see if he knew anything about the city changes.

"Hey uh. I hope my presence here hasn't caused too much problems," the half-saiyan stated sincerely.

Yuusuke seemed to loosen up a bit with the purple-haird man starting off first. He gave a slight chuckle and shook his head.

"All part of a day's work, I'm afraid," he answered.

"Well, in the meantime, do you mind telling me why only humans are here in this city?" Trunks asked.

This made Yuusuke quirk an eyebrow in surprise as if it was common knowledge. He answered anyway knowing that it wouldn't hurt. The truth of the situation and history was harsh though and it could only end up badly with the saiyan.

* * *

After a quick discussion and revealing of the information that had been gathered in a short time, the chief of foreign affairs was quite surprised when the head chief of the department, Yoshimitsu Horai, requested her to bring the lavender haired boy. Normally, it was beyond stupid to bring someone with a high threat level to a high official, but her employer seemed adamant about meeting him personally. His typical demeanor had also leveled to an small amount of urgency. This only made her worry and wonder what exactly was going on. It was obvious that there was a lot more going on than she may have anticipated.

_Just who are you, Trunks? _she thought as she began closing in on the interrogation room. Once again, using her id to gain access to the room, she was met with a bit of a surprise to see Trunks looking down with wide eyes and clenched teeth. His hands were also clenched tight as he pushed them against his legs.

"You've got to be kidding me...how...how could that have happened?!" he almost shouted though not really expecting an answer as even Yuusuke wasn't sure.

"T-that's just how it happened though...as sad as it is unfortunately," Yuusuke explained.

Misaki looked between the two with an eyebrow. What was surprising was the anger that was felt from Trunks. What were they talking about that made him so...angry?

"What were you guys talking about?" she finally asked, glaring a bit at Yuusuke as if he had done something wrong.

Her colleague began sweating a bit as he raised his hands in defense. "N-nothing chief! He wanted to know what happened with the non-humans that once lived here. I thought it wasn't much harm in telling him that kind of public history," he defended.

Misaki raised an eyebrow and then turned back to a furious sitting half-saiyan. She was a bit...confused to the reaction of the half-saiyan. It was a known, tragic history for the relationship between humans and intellect non-humans, but it was long ago and normally wouldn't sprout this much anger as she was seeing with Trunks. Not to mention that contractors would care the least regarding the history...any history even.

What happened was several years after the mysterious fall of the androids and reconstruction, years of tensions between various sectors of Earth and the royal dog family finally blew out of proportion. All of the sectors agreed to get rid of the world monarchy in place of divided but democratic sectors which would promote independence and growth of security for their citizens.

The royal dog family refused to step down peacefully though, arguing that a unified nation and military was the best option despite what happened with the androids. In the end, there wasn't any option but for a civil war. More specifically though, most of the non-humans supported the world monarchy and sided with them. The rest sided with each individuals' sector they lived, believing that sectors would be able to better provide for them in the future rather than one whole government.

It was a tragic but a necessary battle where eventually the sectors won resulting in the fall of the world monarchy; however, many non humans died leaving only a small percentage of them alive who survived the battle or sided with the sectors in the belief of separate rule.

It didn't stop there though as racism came about in the belief that those who sided with the monarch should not be able to enjoy the benefits of democratized sectors. This caused many to more to be unlawfully punished as well as others to flee from their homes. At this time, remaining non humans were given their own sector as a way of apology by the sector leaders.

Trunks was more angry at himself as he learned the future and the result that would occur. There should have been a better way though to resolve such political differences. The non humans shouldn't had suffered because of the ending result, especially when the population was already quite low.

"Trunks?" Misaki called out, cautiously.

The half-saiyan blinked and looked up at the worried woman who he hadn't notice in his furious state. He quickly put the history behind him for now and resolved to ensure nothing of that sort would occur when he returned.

He tried to clean up as best as he could and gave her a small apologetic smile.

"I-I'm sorry...I...uh...I got a bit carried away there," he responded though he knew that most people wouldn't have reacted the way he did. None of these people though had lived through what he had to endure, seeing all of his family, friends, and innocent people die because of the androids. More unnecessary future bloodshed was the last thing he wanted to hear about.

Misaki frowned, not believing for a second if that was true. She would discuss it later with him though since her boss wanted to see this man in person.

"Let's go, the chief of this department wants to see you," she ordered.

Trunks raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Me? Does he know what's going on?" Trunks asked as he got up.

Misaki sighed. "You're guess is as good as mine. This doesn't mean though I'm not keeping my eye on you or that I've let my suspicion slide. I expect you to tell me who you are, Trunks," she reminded with a authoritative tone.

Trunks grinned a little, clearly amused. "I can't say you're making this easy for me, miss Kirihara," he replied back, mimicking the tone that she used earlier.

The woman turned around with a harrumph, but he could have sworn seeing a small smile to the lips from her as well.

When Trunks was let out of the interrogation room, he was happy to be somewhere else and be given some freedom of movement without the feeling of a guard about to raise his arm and shoot. He found out that it hadn't gotten any better though as guards followed he and Kirihara like machines, always watching him. When they got to the head office, he nearly fell over at the number of guards that surrounded the room.

Standing and looking out from a window was a man in his late forties or early fifties who had black hair that extended to long sideburns. When he faced them, Trunks was able to get a good look at the sheer number of facial features the man had. He had a mustache that extended from his black sideburns and a white beard underneath his chin. The man's eyes showed of much police force experience and just as serious, if not even more than Kirihara.

"I apologize for the trouble we caused, mister Briefs," the head, known as Yoshimitsu Horai according to Misaki, apologized.

Trunks held a poker face and simply nodded. His eyes floated down where a stack of papers and a picture of himself and his mother laid. He narrowed his eyes at that. How were they able to find something as old as that in this time period?

"You must be wondering to yourself how we were able to retrieve your information and I'll go ahead and tell you that we took precaution to keep all of the citizenship records in the royal monarch age. The most surprising thing though is that you're supposed to be dead," he explained.

Trunks eyes narrowed and nodded once to affirm what the head chief was relaying. Chief Kirihara immediately spoke up with a respectful tone.

"Sir, are you saying that this man isn't an impostor?" she asked.

Yoshimitsu held a straight face and narrowed his own eyes. "I can't rule that out as it could be true; however, under the circumstances and information we know, it is likely that is not the case," he explained.

Misaki's eyes widened a little as she could only stare at her boss with a bit of confusion.

"But sir..how-"

Yoshimitsu raised one of his hand, immediately stopping what he knew Misaki was going to ask. He then put both of arms behind him and looked around the room.

"Would the guards here dismiss. I can assure you that you don't have to worry about our safety for now," he requested to the room.

All the guards flinched or provided some form of confusion. They nonetheless complied and exited the room leaving the three alone.

When the last guard left and shut the door behind him, the head chief continued.

"What I am telling you now is to be kept confidential and within this room only. While the public was set to believe that time travel was not a possible feat, we have the necessary evidence to prove otherwise..."

The half-saiyan eyes widened. "So you're saying you actually know how to build one?!"

Yoshimitsu stood silent for a moment and then shook his head. "Unfortunately or fortunately, however you think of it, we only have evidence that your mother, Bulma Briefs, was the only one who successfully built a time capsule. We kept hidden this information though to discourage others who have tried and failed. If word gets out that it is possible, then there would be more activity involved with a possible risky technology," he explained.

The half-saiyan wanted to smile, but kept it controlled. At least one thing was going in the right direction.

"...but," he continued further, "...chief Kirihara informed me you were attacked by two unknown contractors after you landed with a yellow cylindrical capsule. Is this true?" he asked.

Trunks, once again, began to worry about the implications of leaving it alone. He was careless and shouldn't have assumed that time travel was a public commodity.

"You're correct. That was the time capsule...and it's likely in their hands now," he stated a bit fiercely.

The head chief closed his eyes and shifted his arms to cross over his chest. He nodded slowly with a hum and then opened his eyes back to Trunks.

"This is troubling indeed. It will be only time before the other sectors find out. Again, I want to make sure that this doesn't get to public at all cost, not even to your team, Kirihara," he warned.

Kirihara nodded firmly. "Of course, sir," she answered.

"...we also have suspicion of Trunks as one of the possible suspects who could have killed the androids two centuries ago..." he began.

Trunks didn't flinch nor say anything as he stared at the head chief. How much did they know? Somehow...he wasn't sure why...but this man gave a unsettling feeling as he talked. His own mind told him to be suspicious, however, he knew well that at this point, it wouldn't matter considering the suspicion was on him.

Kirihara eyes glanced to Trunks who kept his eyes steadily towards the head chief. She wasn't going to ask as it seemed that the man beside her wasn't as totally crazy as she and her team previously believed. That didn't mean her suspicion was gone, but it did mean that she had a lot of questions that the half-saiyan needed to answer.

"...this is only a suspicion and a historical rumor though. The chief admitted though that you could fly which doesn't help your case as you say you are not a 'contractor'; however, this may very well prove to be our advantage..."

Trunks furrowed his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"Here is the deal we're offering you, mister Briefs. You'll be hired to our department and force as well as be granted citizenship to this sector we're in. In return to helping us, we can guarantee that you'll be able to find your time capsule before it becomes publicly known," he offered.

Surprise was an understatement to the half-saiyan as he heard this. Warily, he spoke. "...and if I refuse?"

Yoshimitsu closed his eyes again pointed his hand to the exit of the room. "You are free to leave and try locating your machine by yourself; however, we cannot guarantee or provide for you if something happens. You'll be likely legitimately regarded as a contractor and that will in itself be a hindrance to your goal returning," he supported.

Trunks sighed. "So you're basically saying that you want me to be an undercover contractor, is that it?" he asked.

The head chief didn't show any sign of acknowledgment, but he replied. "Our duty in this special department is to protect the citizens from the uprising and threat of contractors. You'd be doing this in the favor for everyone and will help yourself in the end. The choice is yours though," he concluded.

Trunks bit his lips. On one side, he could be wrongfully mistaken as a contractor by others and likely hunted down while on the other hand, he could help the department by being their guinea pig...or at least, that's what it seemed like, and help them against legitimate contractors. While neither of them seemed to be great as he'd rather get help without much in return, the prospect of finding out what investigating the rising of contractors and these...chaotic areas of space could prove to be helpful when he returned back.

This may be the biggest chance to prevent what was going to happen...everything from the civil war to the dangers of contractors.

He didn't have much time though but knowing the security system that was in place on the capsule, he knew he'd have a couple of months before someone could figure it out. The authorization system on it was not standard according to his mother and that meant he could safely assume that it wasn't something that a person could not figure out on his own.

...in addition, he'd rather play it safe. He could tell that there were a lot of things he didn't know about yet and that he could very well be going in uncharted territory if he did things on his own. Even if it had only been two centuries, he could barely recognize Central City!

With that set in mind, he looked towards the head chief who would be very likely his new boss. Something was troubled him a bit. He would save suspicions for later though, right now...

"When can I start?"

* * *

**A\N: **...and that sets things in motion. I tried to make everything future-future but not to the extent that it was overly-the-top-future...ah...I'm probably not making sense here.


End file.
